Indo-Iran cooperation

This weekend, India and Iran signed agreements, including Tehran leasing to New Delhi operational control of part of the Iranian east coast port of Chabahar for 18 months. Shahid Beheshti port – phase one of the Chabahar port – is not too far away from Gwadar and creates a new transit route between India and Afghanistan. India will also gain access to Central Asian markets bypassing Pakistan.

In their historic meeting Indian Prime Minister Modi and the Iranian president Rouhani vowed to expand their economic ties. The construction of the Chabahar-Zahedan rail link was also announced as it would boost regional connectivity and energy trade.

But the economic cooperation and the port-sharing have larger strategic ramifications as well. India’s interest in Afghanistan is clearly at work something that the Pakistani authorities have been trying to avert for long. With growing Iranian cooperation India is trying to overcome the disadvantages of geography and neutralise Pakistan’s key influence in the region. India has invested more than $2 billion into Afghanistan since the Taliban were toppled in 2001.

While India’s official aim to help achieve stability to war-torn Afghanistan to ensure that anti-Indian militants don’t find a haven in Afghanistan, there is also the ambition to counter Pakistan and keep it under check on the western borders. PM Modi made these aims clear by citing ‘common interests’ in keeping terrorism, extremism, illegal drug trafficking and organised crime under check. The overemphasis on the word terrorism that is also India’s position at all international forums indicates where the new alliances are headed.

Indo-Iranian cooperation is not a new development. India has been a major buyer of Iranian oil and gas, and has kept its trade ties intact despite the international sanctions imposed on Tehran between 2012 and 2016. There have been delays in contracting but this relationship is vital for India’s energy needs for sustained economic growth. A key threat to this relationship relates to India’s strategic partnership with the United States and given Trump administration’s move to revise nuclear deal with Iran, this will be a test for India’s diplomatic and strategic community.

For Pakistan, this should be a wake-up call necessitating a policy review as the country’s neighbours are entering into pacts that not only exclude Pakistan but also could potentially upset its strategic calculations. We hope that Islamabad and Rawalpindi are thinking creatively and not complacent in view of these significant developments. *